1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the fields of delivering and displaying advertising content on cell phones, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and similar wireless devices (collectively, “mobile devices”) connected to a network, and in particular to targeting advertising content to each user and displaying the advertising content at optimum times so as to minimize any interruption of the use of the mobile device.
2. Description of Related Art
Advertising on mobile devices is a relatively new concept due to recent improvements in the data capabilities of wireless networks and the introduction of mass market mobile devices with improved display resolutions and data handling capabilities. Certain mobile devices (known as smart phones) execute computer-like operating systems and have data services that allow them to access and view Internet content which includes advertising. Advertising to personal computers (PCs) over data networks has been in practice via the internet for many years.
In the case of Internet advertising, the relatively large display size available on most modern PCs allows advertising content to be displayed in various forms and often without degrading the user experience. The primary content of the website is displayed prominently on the page while advertising content is displayed in the periphery of the page where it does not intrude upon the user's experience.
Advertising is sometimes targeted specifically to users of certain demographics based on the theme of the website containing the advertisement and prior selections or actions taken by the user. For instance, a company that manufactures tires might target their advertising to websites that focus on automotive technology because most users accessing such a website are likely to be interested in automobiles. Such targeted advertising typically commands better advertising rates due to the higher likelihood of attracting a potential customer to the product being advertised.
Some recent Internet advertising has become more invasive. Such advertising is displayed prominently on the page and the primary content of the website is obscured until the ad finishes and/or the user terminates the ad. Other ads are displayed as pop-up windows that appear on top of the webpage and must be closed in order to see the primary content. These practices tend to degrade the user experience, and are only tolerated to obtain “premium” content. Some website operators (and other service providers) provide the option paying a subscription fee to receive the service without advertising interruptions.
Large, prominent, and/or invasive advertisements are difficult to implement, and difficult for users to tolerate, because the display screen on most mobile devices is already so limited.
Another limitation on advertisements on mobile devices is the significant delay required to download even small applications and graphics over typical wireless networks. Data download using standard wired networks (or IEEE compliant wireless networks) provides fast access to data via the Internet. Search times using popular search engines may return hundreds of thousands of results with only 1-2 seconds of delay. As such, a PC user using wired network rarely experiences longer periods of inactivity while waiting for data from the network. PCs also have significant processing power and memory so the time required to process data once it is within the PC is often less than a second.
Mobile devices operating on wireless cellular networks do not experience the same performance. Although wireless carriers are improving the data capability of their networks, the data rates of existing networks are relatively slow. In addition, signal quality and coverage of the cellular network will often reduce the actual data rate a mobile device will experience. Mobile devices are also equipped with slower processors and less memory (relative to a PC) so once the data is received by the mobile device, the processing delay and display of that data takes longer.
In light of the limited display space provided by a mobile device, and the limited network speed and processing power, advertisers are severely limited in what they can do to reach consumers using a mobile device. Traditional web pages that contain large amounts of advertising content can significantly degrade the user experience, and thus prove unacceptable to the consumer.
Nonetheless, advertising on mobile devices is of great interest to companies in this field. Interest in advertising to mobile devices is extremely high right now as carriers are seeking opportunities to increase revenues and traditional Internet content companies (such as Google® and Yahoo®) are looking for ways to generate revenue from mobile customers. Advertising on mobile devices must overcome the limitations of the network and mobile device, while maintaining a positive user experience and insuring that the advertising clients get the best ad exposure for their cost. Prior art systems have yet to achieve these goals simultaneously.
The present invention displays advertising only during idle time, thereby avoiding degradation of the user experience using the mobile device. In prior art systems, such applications typically signify idle time by displaying an animated icon that represents time. Examples include an hour glass that rotates, the face of a clock on which the hands rotate, or flashing directional arrows to indicate that data transfer is taking place. This method is used to indicate to the user that the application is still running (i.e. it is not halted or locked-up) but it is still busy with a processing and/or communication task.
In the present invention, rather than display an hour glass rotating (as in prior art applications) the system displays advertising content, which might be a rotating logo of the advertiser, or a brief animation advertising the product and/or service. This method may actually improve the user experience by entertaining the user during idle times. Because the actual application is more important than the advertising (from the user's perspective), the advertisement is terminated immediately when actual application data is ready to display. This re-enforces to the users that the application content is not delayed due to delivery of advertising content.